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A database will make storing information for a website, especially a large website much easier. Websites that are run with databases are very popular nowadays and are known as dynamic websites. This will allow you to separate your content from your source code and keep and update the same template across a site while displaying different content on each page.

The content for each page is stored and retrieved from a database, making things simpler to manage. If you also want to keep track of users, a database is a must, as this will store all the information for each user, including password, name, email, etc. Think of it as a large file folder or information manager. This is why databases have become so popular nowadays, especially for managing a website.

Although this question can’t be answered specifically, the answer depends on the hardware and operating systems running, and maybe even on the version of MySQL as MySQL upgrades, but generally you should be allowed somewhere at least above 2 gigabytes (GB).  Anything above this and your MySQL database is rather large, and a lot of times may even be dependent on the size that your hosting service allows (which could be less than 2 GB).

At this point, especially for basic websites this would be very hard if not almost impossible to achieve and could make backing up the database a little harder, but at the standard user level this is something that will not have to be worried about.  I have one site with hundreds of posts, and the MySQL database size is only about 3.6 MB, so you shouldn’t have a problem.  MySQL is very efficient in many areas including this one.  Some hosts, in particular free ones, may limit the size you may have to something like 10MB.

A Database is a place to store information.  Information is stored into tables and rows inside the database for easy input and retrieval.  There are many different databases available, both for web design and for operating system (desktop) applications.  If you are doing web design, you will probably come across something like MySQL databases, or Oracle databases, (both based on the SQL standard).

If you have ever used a program like Microsoft Access or Excel you can understand somewhat what a database is.  It is usually just a set of tables and rows each with data and structured in a way that retrieve specific data is easily enhanced.  Most databases have a query language (such as SQL) that allows you to retrieve or insert data using a command language to target specific data and output in a certain way.

Databases greatly enhance the task of storing data, especially large amounts of data in structured ways that is easy for the user to use.  Many websites now a days are structured around databases and their ease of use (once learned).

MySQL is a database software that allows a user to store lots of information that is easily retrievable using a scripting code such as PHP or another.  MySQL follows the standard SQL (“Standard Query Language“) structure and is relatively easy to learn (with some practice).  MySQL files can also be updated, changed, created and deleted easily and also provides quick access and connections when be called from a programming language such as PHP.

Most PHP hosts offer MySQL with their hosting packages, and this is by far the most popular database language in PHP/Linux environments, and is widely supported.  The best thing of all is it is free, (under GPL license) and can be downloaded and installed even on your home computer.